Digital Facts & Fun Come to the Hospital Bedside at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System; Pyxis PatientStation Revolutionizes Experience for Patients.Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers/High-Tech Writers HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2003 For the first time ever in Houston healthcare, digital online bedside services are literally at the patient's fingertips "Fingertips" is a 1963 number-one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States. . Patients at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital can swing a floor-mounted, 15-inch flat touch screen wherever they want it and log on to the Internet, check e-mail, watch movies or TV, listen to the radio, learn about the hospital, and more. The digital Pyxis PatientStation is a personal computer that runs on a Windows 2000 platform, but with its exclusive visual interface this serious piece of hardware has the healthful health·ful adj. 1. Conducive to good health; salutary. 2. Healthy. health  ful·ness n. appearance of pure fun. At no additional charge, patients can tune in to local TV channels, watch relaxation videos, or get healthcare information through the special Patient Portal. For a small daily fee, premium options are available, including cable TV channels, games, high-speed Internet See broadband. , and radio. Patient response has been overwhelmingly positive. Following her husband's recent stay, Shelley Vanderhey wrote, "My husband had been in pain for four days. Once he was admitted and put in the room, the nurse showed him how to use the PatientStation. He started to play games. After about 20 minutes I realized he was smiling and enjoying himself. He was occupied and his mind was off of his problem and his pain. I'm very thankful thank·ful adj. 1. Aware and appreciative of a benefit; grateful. 2. Expressive of gratitude: a thankful smile. for the PatientStation." "Being in the hospital isn't generally a fun experience," says hospital CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Wayne Voss, "but it can be a positive one. If the PatientStation can contribute by entertaining our patients and helping them feel more connected to the outside world, then Memorial Hermann becomes an even better place for healing." Chief Nursing Officer Michelle Bell, RN, adds that plans are for the Pyxis PatientStation to be as useful to hospital staff as it is to the patients. "We're very excited about the potential for process improvement down the line," she says. "Memorial Hermann is planning to develop a secure means of accessing the hospital's clinical applications so that physicians and nurses will be able to electronically access the patient's chart at the bedside." Adds Frank Brown, a VP and CEO with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, "We may even decide to adopt the capability to store and dispense dispense /dis·pense/ (-pens´) to prepare medicines for and distribute them to their users. dis·pense v. To prepare and give out medicines. medications at the bedside. That would save a tremendous amount of time and has the potential to enhance safety as well." A digital camera and microphone, already discreetly dis·creet adj. 1. Marked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect. 2. Free from ostentation or pretension; modest. mounted above and below the screen, indicate the likelihood of even more communication services. Though the 121 beds at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital received the bedside PatientStations first, the plan is for Pyxis to permeate permeate /per·me·ate/ (-at?) 1. to penetrate or pass through, as through a filter. 2. the constituents of a solution or suspension that pass through a filter. per·me·ate v. the entire Memorial Hermann system within 18 months. About Memorial Hermann Memorial Hermann, a not-for-profit health care system, provides quality, comprehensive programs and services for a person's whole life. Through our 11 hospitals located in the Texas Medical Center and the greater Houston Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown is a 10-county metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget. It is located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas. area, Memorial Hermann offers the convenience of health care in neighborhoods where people live and work as well as easy access to the resources and technology of a university-affiliated teaching hospital. Memorial Hermann takes a holistic approach holistic approach A term used in alternative health for a philosophical approach to health care, in which the entire Pt is evaluated and treated. See Alternative medicine, Holistic medicine. to health care, offering programs and services that address the physical, social, psychological and spiritual aspects of wellbeing. Our employees, volunteers and medical staff partners take pride in delivering care with compassion and respect. |
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